Football Practice Report: Nov. 10
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Full pads
With three weeks left in the regular season, it’s down to Oregon and Stanford for the Pac-12 North title. In other words, business as usual.
In each of the past four seasons, the Ducks and Cardinal finished in the top two spots of the division. They were 1-2 in the last two years of the Pac-10 format, too. If it’s late in the season and the race is coming down to the wire, it’s usually been the Ducks and Cardinal jockeying for position.
“Certainly Stanford and us have had a bunch of success, and a bunch of great battles,” UO coach Mark Helfrich said Tuesday.
Stanford has a stranglehold on the North division lead, with a perfect 7-0 conference record. Oregon is tied with Washington State at 4-2, but only the Ducks and Cardinal are still alive for the division title. Oregon must win out to remain in contention, and have Stanford lose to California in its conference finale.
In that case the Ducks would have a tiebreaker over the Cardinal based on a requisite victory this week, and the edge in a three-way tie with the Cardinal and Cougars by virtue of being the only one of the three with a single loss in the North. Under that scenario, Stanford would have losses to Oregon and Cal, and WSU would have losses to the Cardinal and Cal, while Oregon would have one loss in the division, to WSU, and one to a team from the South, Utah.
To keep those scenarios in play for another week, the Ducks will need to win Saturday at Stanford (4:30 p.m., FOX). As usual, that presents a monumental challenge against a Cardinal team that plays tough, old-school football.
“(The challenge Stanford poses is) mental, it’s physical, of bleeding the playclock and doing all those things,” Helfrich said. “And then the offensive guys get a little antsy and want to make it all up on one play, and you can’t do that either.”
Oregon enters this week a confident team, based a three-game win streak fueled by the return of quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., and a developing defense that survived a major hiccup at Arizona State. Now the Ducks will need to beat a team ranked No. 7 in the country, which hasn’t lost since its opener.
Stanford is led by Heisman contender Christian McCaffrey, who is first in the nation in all-purpose running with 241.6 yards per game. The Cardinal haven’t skipped a beat offensively behind a retooled offensive line, and quarterback Kevin Hogan has more wins than any other active FBS quarterback.
Hogan is completing nearly two-thirds of his attempts this season (133-of-201) and lately he’s developed into a running threat as well, with 140 of his 226 rushing yards this season coming in the last two games.
“He’s just really good, in total command,” Helfrich said. “This year he’s become that much more of a versatile runner, a physical runner.”
As on the offensive line, Stanford lost a bunch of defensive talent from 2014 but has kept on rolling. Linebacker Blake Martinez leads the Pac-12 in tackles, and the experience gained over the first two months of the season is allowing the Cardinal to do more schematically.
“They do a great job of changing their front, changing their coverage to fit their opponent’s perceived strengths and weaknesses,” Helfrich said. “That’s a huge challenge.”
Oregon enters Saturday as the underdog, something offensive coordinator Scott Frost noted Monday but which Helfrich said won’t be used as a source of motivation.
“I haven’t heard or talked about any type of spoiler role,” Helfrich said. “We’re attacking with total confidence, total commitment, total belief, from all angles.”
Practice highlights: The offense got off to a good start in the tempo drill, with a long run by Royce Freeman and a sharp completion by Adams to Dwayne Stanford. The No. 2 defense got off the field when Ugo Amadi broke up a pass. … Jimmie Swain had tackles for loss in two different team periods. … Rex Manu, who played extensively in the second half last week, broke through the line against the scouts and forced Morgan Mahalak to burn a pass into the ground. …
The scout team bottled up the first couple reps of kickoff return drills, but Tony Brooks-James and Amadi ended up ripping off long returns later in the period and provided a burst of energy to the morning. Helfrich told the team afterward he though “practice got going after kickoff return.” … Receiver Jhet Janis, a thrower on the track and field team, continues to be impressive on the scout team. Mahalak underthrew a deep ball today that Janis reached back and caught behind the back of cornerback Ty Griffin.
Other observations: For tempo, offensive line coach Steve Greatwood pulled Matt Hegarty from the first group to get Doug Brenner some work with them at center. His first snap was a little off, but on the next play he got upfield to lead the charge on Freeman’s long run. … The Ducks have announced the signing to financial-aid agreements of five recruits for next season, receiver Dillon Mitchell, offensive lineman Jacob Capra, defensive lineman Hunter Kampmoyer, tight end Cam McCormick and linebacker Eric Briscoe.
